5 AI Priorities to Stay Competitive

Closing the gap between AI advancements and government regulations. Although the United States government and the European Union announced policies around the use of AI, we're still living with a Wild West-type framework. Advancements in the application of AI will require access to tons of data, and this will clash with privacy concerns. And yet we must address how to maintain privacy in a way that still allows innovation to happen. I believe there's a huge opportunity for technology firms to do what matters and come forward to invest in privacy-preserving technologies.

Mitigating bias and ensuring ethical use. Mitigating bias in AI is essential for fairness and equality, as biased systems can perpetuate social inequalities. Accurate and reliable outcomes depend on unbiased AI, especially in critical applications like law enforcement and hiring. Public trust in AI technology hinges on its perceived fairness and lack of bias. Legal and regulatory compliance as AI governance evolves mandates vigilance against bias. I believe that ethical AI practice is crucial for a company's reputation and commercial success, reflecting a commitment to global and cultural sensitivity.

Strengthening explainability. Closely tied to ethical use is that AI and everything surrounding it must be explainable, auditable, and defensible. Technology professionals must be able to tell the story of how the data is calculated, linked, and transformed to those who are asked to sign off on projects and budgets. Stakeholders will be wary of what they don't understand and what doesn't seem transparent, especially around fairness and bias.

Developing AI talent. What expertise do you need to be a practitioner of AI? Yes, deep programming skills and a solid foundation in mathematics are table stakes, but gone are the days when you can throw something to a programmer in the corner who doesn't interact with people. An AI specialist needs to possess soft skills and collaborative capabilities. They'll be working with legal, finance, marketing, and human resources, and they must communicate in an effective and straightforward way.

Embedding AI across the business responsibly. AI is a strategic business capability that can and should impact all parts of an organization, and it's going to foster collaboration like you've never seen. You must therefore have a business strategy for its use, assess the readiness of your people, processes, and platforms, and put a framework in place for its responsible use. This is a critical component of understanding and managing risk tolerance, being compliant, and most importantly, building confidence and trust in AI technologies.